With Love Beer Garden Featured Brewer Q&A: Carol Stoudt Of Stoudt’s Brewing Company

Carol Stoudt of Stoudt's Brewing Company will be at the With Love Beer Garden tonight. (Photo courtesy Stoudt's)

[This is the final installment in our With Love Beer Garden Q&A series, which we’ve published each day this week in honor of the Philly Beer Week With Love Beer Garden at the Four Seasons Philadelphia Hotel’s courtyard. One of tonight’s featured brewers is Carol Stoudt of Stoudt’s Brewing Company. Read on to hear her weigh in on Philadelphia’s beer heritage, her favorite summer brews and more.]

Carol Stoudt founded Stoudt’s Brewing Company in 1987; the company has proclaimed her the first woman in America to oversee the design and development of a craft brewery from start to finish. In accordance with the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516, all of Stoudt’s beers are made solely with spring water and only the finest barley, hopes and yeast to provide an all-natural product.

We recently talked with Carol to get the scoop on her favorite Beer Week events, special summertime Stoud’ts brews in the pipeline and more.

Uwishunu: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. We can’t wait for the Stoudt’s Meet the Brewer event as part of the With Love Beer Garden’s closing night tonight! In addition to the Beer Garden, what other Beer Week events are you most excited about/or have you really enjoyed?

Uwishunu: Sounds awesome. Maybe it’s because of that spirited character that over 20 years, Stoudt’s Brewing Company has evolved from a small brewery with limited draught distribution to a packaging regional microbrewery with distribution in 10 different states, producing more than 10,000 barrels a year. Why do you think the Philadelphia beer scene has thrived so impressively in the past decade and a half?

Carol: Independent restaurant and bar owners have always embraced local products — McGillians, White Dog, Bridget Foys, The London to name a few.

Below, Carol talks about sourcing local water for Stoudt’s beer, some of her favorite summertime brews and more.

Uwishunu: Do you source ingredients locally for any Stoudt’s beers? Is that something you try to do when possible?

Carol: 98 percent of beer is water and Adamstown water tastes great and is fabulous for brewing.

Uwishunu: One of Stoudt’s most known and loved qualities is the attention to detail that goes into every batch of handcrafted beer that is traditionally brewed, packaged and sold with passion by a small, hardworking team. What are some of your favorite Stoudt’s beers to enjoy outdoors in the summertime?

Carol: I love the Karnival Kolsch, Pils and Heifer-in-Wheat — German style Hefeweizen. This year we will do a small batch of Sour Cherry Weizen and perhaps Raspberry and Peach. Yummy.

Uwishunu: Lastly, Philadelphia has plenty of awesome bars and restaurants. What are some of your favorite places in the city to go to grab a beer and a bite when you’re in town?

Carol: This is a loaded question because there are so many. Over the years I have popped into the White Dog for an early lunch or McGillin’s for a great burger and beer. If I am going to the airport than I stop at Bridget Foy’s.

With Love Beer Garden
Where: The Courtyard at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, 1 Logan Square
Note: You can enter straight from the corner of 18th and Cherry Streets; you don’t need to go through the hotel
When: Today, June 10, 4-8 p.m. — Closing Night!
Cost: Pay as you go
More info: www.visitphilly.com